NEW YORK: May 16, 2011
Epistle of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad
We, the Hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia......
Since the time of the last Council of Bishops, and specifically last fall, a significant anniversary not only for the diaspora of the Church but in the pages of Russian Church history took place: the 90th anniversary of the canonical establishment of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. On November 6/19, 1920, within view of “Tsargrad,” Constantinople, over a hundred twenty-five vessels stood at anchor, containing a great mass of 150,000 Russian refugees from Crimea, and on the ship Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich the first meeting of the Supreme Ecclesiastical Administration in the South of Russia outside of the borders of the Fatherland was held, which laid down the foundation for our Church Abroad.
....... Metropolitan Anthony had a different challenge: he was entrusted with preserving the Russian Church in the diaspora, which was the essence of the service of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
This service, the mission of the Church Abroad to spiritually nourish the Russian Orthodox people outside of their Fatherland and to preserve the traditions of the Russian Church, continues today. At the same time, by Divine providence, not only is our flock not diminishing, but it is actually increasing: over the last two decades, overwhelming majority of our parishioners today are actually those who for one reason or another found themselves outside of the borders of Historic Russia. This circumstance illustrates that the service of the Church Abroad has by no means been completed. At the same time, the dissemination of the light of Orthodoxy among the peoples of all the lands where our Church exists continues as an inseparable part of our mission. ......
http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/eng2011/20110516_enepistle.html
